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Overview
Email scams are a common occurrence for anyone who has an email account. It is important to be able to detect email scams to avoid having important information fall into the wrong hands. There are many types of email scams, the most common being phishing scams and gift card scams. The information provided in this article explains how to detect common email scams.
What to Look For
[External] in Subject
All email messages to your Providence College email account from external senders have [External] added to the subject. This is the first sign that an email might be a scam, especially if it is from someone you do not normally contact via email or via an external email account.
Common Subject Lines
Email scams tend to use similar subject lines. The subject tends to be vague or implies that the message is urgent or critical in nature, such as simply stating "urgent" or stating that you must change your password or verify your account to prevent loss of access. Examples of common subjects in email scams are listed below.
- Request
- Follow Up
- Urgent/Important
- Are you available?
- Are you at your desk?
- Status of your Payment
- Hello
- Purchase
- Invoice Due
- Re:
- Direct Deposit
- Expenses
- Payroll
- Security Alert
- Change of Password Required Immediately
Characteristics
Email scams often have certain characteristics. The sender is trying to trick you into sending personally identifiable information (PII), account information, or gift cards. Oftentimes, email scams contain typos and other grammatical errors. They may include images that do not display properly.
Other examples of these characteristics include:
- Receipt or invoice for an item you did not purchase
- Request to purchase gift cards and send the card ID and passcode or PIN
- An offer (job, purchase price, etc.) that seems too good to be true
- Email from a colleague, supervisor, or senior management sent from an external email address
- Brief message with vague content, such as "are you available?"
- Unexpected email attachments from senders you do not recognize, such as an invoice sent as an attachment from a site that does not normally send attachments (such as Amazon or Best Buy)
- Request to verify your account by signing into a website or sending your account information, including passwords
- Link to a website with a suspicious-looking URL
- Text message requesting information or availability from someone you don't usually text
- Text message from someone from an unknown phone number or an area code that does not fit their location
What to do Next
Never share your user account information with anyone. No legitimate organization, including the Providence College IT Department, will ask you to send your password via email.
Never send social security numbers, credit card numbers, or bank account information via email.
Encrypt your email message whenever you must send confidential information.
Report Phishing Scams